Shadow of the Leader
by datawolf39
Summary: Yu has to face his shadow. I based his hidden side on the issues that he had in P4 the animation.


In just moments that he would get on the train that would ferry him back to the empty home that he shared with parents whenever they decided to actually stay in the country that is. Yu watched in an almost detached way as his friends said goodbye to him. To be honest he really had no desire to leave Inaba. He had made a life that he was happy with in this small town with his friends, Nanako and his uncle Dojima.

He had known coming to this small town that he would only be here for one year but he had thought that it would be different. He hadn't expected to make so many wonderful friends. He hadn't expected to become so close to his uncle and cousin either. Overall he expected to want to go back to the city.

Home. It sounded worse and worse with every second he spent thinking of it. He hardly missed anyone in the city and his parents would hardly be home anyway. Sure they'd come back from overseas but they were travelers at heart and they were rarely home at night more than three times a week. That was why he hadn't minded being home alone that much back when Nanako and his uncle had been in the hospital; he was used to being alone.

But he had no choice he had to leave.

"Time to go," said his uncle cutting into his thoughts.

Yu turned and looked at the train and back at his group of friends. He faked a convincing enough smile and picked up his carry-on bag. Then he turned and walked toward the train that was to take him away.

Suddenly as he walked up to the platform he began to feel a bit dizzy. He shook his head and continued to the train. Most likely he was just upset about having to leave a place that he had come to think of as a second home of sorts. If people's feelings and thoughts could make a separate world then surely his thoughts could make him feel a bit ill. He would visit for golden week and maybe his parents would come along too. He promised this to himself hoping that assurance would make the dizziness disappear.

He took another few steps and was almost at the platform when he was assaulted with another wave of illness stronger than before and he was certain that he wasn't just imagining things this time. He really felt as though he was going to be sick and his head felt like it was breaking open. He swallowed hard he really hated being sick.  
"Big Bro!" Nanako called out in an alarmed tone noticing that he had gone a bit pale. All of his friends where ringed around him Yu realized when he looked up at his cousin who really was more like a little sister to him. Perhaps Nanako wasn't the first to notice then but she was the first one that he had heard cry out in alarm. He hadn't realized that he had gone to his knees at some point. He really did not feel good now. He just wanted to curl up on his futon and sleep for as long as this illness persisted.

"Yu," that was his uncle. He sounded worried. He felt the detective crouch down next to him and check for a fever. That was a bit of a surprise his parents were hardly around and when he got sick he would take care of himself. He didn't resent his parents for that but that was how things were. But this was different he was sure that his uncle had things that he needed to do or would rather be doing but he was still here with him. Strong hands lifted him and carried him back to the car. This was different too it had been many, many years since someone had carried him.

"You are too light," Yu heard his uncle say.

"I can walk," Yu managed to whisper out unconvincingly.

"Sure you can," Dojima agreed not loosening his hold on the young man at all.

The drive to the hospital was very short and Yu found he didn't remember it at all. The only thing he did recollect after the ride was that Nanako sat in the backseat with him and rubbed his hair and that somehow all of his friends had squished themselves into the car. 'The petting is nice' he thought fuzzily. He felt really hot and ill but the petting was nice.

Once they all arrived Dojima once again carried Yu who was now fitfully asleep. Once he in Dojima's arms he quieted though, aware of the comfort that the man provided even though he was not yet awake, and then he opened his eyes. The glazed gray eyes scanned the friends and family that were walking behind and beside Dojima. "Don't leave me," He whispered out vulnerably.

Eyes widened at the plea of their leader the one that was so strong and fought so hard and now here he was so sick and the only thing that he bothered to ask for was for them to stay with him.

"None of us are going anywhere Big Bro," Nanako said, voicing what the others were thinking as she grabbed one of her brother's hands.

Yu smiled and curled more into Dojima's hold ready to sleep again now that he knew that he wouldn't be alone. Every time he had been really sick he was alone it wasn't his parents' fault that they had to travel so much but it had always been so hard on him.

When Yu woke up he was in a hospital bed and he was surrounded by everyone. For a moment he thought he might be dreaming. They didn't need to be here. It was surely a mere cold or maybe exhaustion from too much work.

"Hey he's up," Chie said.

Everyone turned and looked.

"Sorry about this," Yu said.

Everyone was kind of puzzled so he explained. "You didn't have to stay with me. I'm sure that there was something else that all of you wanted to do today."

"First of all Sempai we are your friends and we were worried about you so we didn't mind staying. Secondly you asked us to stay, don't you remember?" Rise asked.

He had asked him to stay? When had he done that? Regardless of the 'when' he shouldn't have done it at all. He was being a burden and he never wanted to be one especially not to these people they were too important to him for him to cause trouble to them like this.

"Sorry," he said again.

If he had been looking up he might have seen that they were confused but he had directed his gaze to the white sheet of the bed. He was quite tired too and it was then that the doctor came in and herded his friends from the room.

The next day he was still in the hospital and his sickness had not improved at all even if he had said that it had when he was asked.

It was his uncle that came up with a reason. "Could this be because of the world in the TV?" he asked when he and the group were the only ones in the room.

"I don't see how. Were that the case all of us would be feeling such effects from being over there." Naoto replied.

"We can go over see if he is reacting to something there." Teddie said.

In the end Yosuke, Rise, Teddie and Naoto went in the TV at Junes. The world was as they remembered it but there was something here and if felt… odd. It could be coincidence but they all felt that it was somehow connected to what was going on with Yu. Also due to all that they had been through recently they were all, justifiably, a bit skeptical of coincidences.

Later in the week when Yu showed no signs of improvement despite the doctor's best efforts Dojima-san helped them to put him in the TV. Since the older man was no longer denying any part of him there was no need for him to face a shadow. But there was definitely a presence in the world and once they got to the place they found that there was a Shadow just waiting for them. It played no games with them; it was far to strait forward for that, instead it met them at the door of a house that was made entirely from something that looked like ice. It was not cold inside though. It was room temperature and there were items all around that looked as though they too were made of ice.

"It's about time that you all got here," it said smiling. Its yellow eyes shone with unmitigated glee at the sight of all of them. "I've been waiting for so very long for you all to come."

"How?" Kanji asked in shock.

"Didn't he already face himself?" Rise asked.

"No he didn't have to." Yosuke said.

"He must have changed somewhat and now is denying something that is the only way that this could happen." Naoto said.

The Shadow clapped very loudly. "Good job Miss Detective you truly are brilliant." The Shadow said in mock-awe. "You all thought you knew me huh? The big strong Leader capable of anything at all." It laughed. "You morons don't know the half of it."

"Stop it!"

"Oh hush. You know what's going to happen if you say it. The only one in the dark here is Daddy over there and he'll know soon enough. Won't he Yu-chan?

Yu could do nothing but glare daggers at the Shadow because it was right. If he uttered the words, if he truly denied it, it would be bad. He couldn't do that to them.

"I'm so lonely. Can't anyone see that? I don't want to go back there 'cause I'll be all alone but I have to go back. I don't want to cause trouble. I want, want, want, want!" it said mockingly.

"Please," Yu whispered ducking his head unable to look around as the Shadow spilled everything that he had worked so hard not to tell anyone, but the Shadow paid him no heed and continued speaking.

"What? I'm not so bad especially when you compare it to the rest of these rugrats. I've just been hiding that I am a selfish bastard that's all. Oh and let's not forget the fact I'm a big sissy. So scared of being left all alone. I'd do anything to keep things how they are. Isn't that how we feel Yu-chan?" The Shadow taunted.

Yu clapped his hand over his mouth because he wanted to say it. He wanted to scream those words. He really did. But he knew that he couldn't. There was also no way that he could accept that he was truly like that. That was what put him in this situation anyway. He wished that he could he could vanish. Yu didn't want to deal with this or the fact that all of them would be disappointed and ashamed of him. There was no case left to solve perhaps he could simply stay here and allow the Shadow to take him.

"Go ahead, Partner."

"Yu…"

"It's alright."

"Sempai…"

"Sensei…"

"Let us help you,"

"We can do it. Right guys?"

"I don't understand fully but just do what you have to."

"I'm so sorry." Yu whispered.

"So will you deny me?" The Shadow asked with faked curiosity for it already knew what was about to happen.

"You are not me!" Yu cried out and the Shadow laughed triumphantly.

The Shadow grew to an impossible height, towering over them as few others had, before the dark aura around it dispersed enough that the Users of Persona could discern the features of what it. They all knew that it would be a perverted form of the first persona that Yu had gotten. But it was a surprise when they saw that it was like Adachi's, they had known that Adachi had a version of Izanagi but they never thought that their Leader's Shadow would manifest like it had. There were some differences though. One was that it was way larger than what Adachi had and the other was that it had a puppet rig attached to its fingers.

On the rig was the persona Mada. He was very huge and it was quite evident that the Shadow was in control of it. There was absolutely no warning before the Shadow released a Maragidyne. Most of the group was hardly able to dodge it and Yukiko protected who she could. Usually they were too spread out in battle for anyone to protect others from what they were invulnerable to but all of them were fighting now it was the only way they could win.

The Shadow laughed. "It's useless to resist. You'll only prolong your suffering." With that the Persona changed to Ishtar and used Maziodyne. The group scrambled to avoid and Yosuke managed to get off a Garudyne making an opening for Naoto to use Megidoleon.

The battle was intense and all that Yu could think was that he was the reason that all of his friends were going through this. They were fighting and getting hurt because of him.

As though he read his thoughts his uncle spoke. "They are doing this for you even I understand that much. This is to show you just how much you matter to them. If they didn't care they would have left you to deal with this alone right?"

He was right. Yu realized.

The battle continued. The Shadow was using personas that some of them didn't even know about. Those were the hardest to combat because they didn't know what they were weak to and some of the personas had no weaknesses at all.

Luckily though, it seemed that the Shadow could only utilize one Persona at a time and that it had to wait a little while before it could switch again. There was also the fact that it seemed to be able to only use one skill with each of the Personas. Fat lot of good knowing that did when they were being bombarded by various skills. One moment it would be fire then ice then physicals. But the worse was when the puppet Persona had megido skills because some of them were always hit and there was no one with immunity to them.

The battle took a turn for the worse when Kanji and Teddie were knocked out after a megido skill. It seemed like they were going to lose until the Shadow switched back to Mada to use Maragidyne and Yosuke hit it with another Garudyne with the last of his energy. With that all of the other remaining persona users used their strongest skills and finally the mammoth of a Shadow was defeated.

A few minutes after they had beaten the Shadow into submission Yu pulled himself up and went to sit beside it.

"What's happening," Rise asked.

"He still hasn't accepted it." Yosuke replied to her. They all knew how hard it was to face yourself and all of them knew that it wasn't as simple as it seemed.

"Will you still like me after?" Yu asked addressing them all with the question although he was looking at the Shadow as he spoke.

"Are you an idiot Sempai?" Kanji asked." You've seen all of our hidden sides."

"You know things about me that I haven't told anybody else. So what if you have things that you want. We all do. There is no need to be ashamed of wanting something for yourself even if it goes against what others wish." Dojima said with a small smile.

"I know that you are me but I needed time" Yu said offering his hand to the Shadow.

The Shadow nodded and smiled. It turned and looked at all of the others fondly before turning to Yu. "That wasn't so bad was it? It said with a smile as it grabbed his hand.

Yu turned his back to them all. He was very embarrassed and ashamed because until he had come inside the TV he hadn't even known that he was truly suppressing a part of himself. He had known the dangers and he had still done it anyway and his friends had paid the price for that mistake. Even now, he could see in his mind's eye the injuries caused by his Shadow.

He hadn't wanted anything in a very long time though. Part of it was that somewhere along the line he had learned that what he wanted didn't matter. People seemed to like him more and more when he helped them with what they wanted and needed and asked for nothing for himself in return.

He had no problems with this before because it was part of him that he recognized fully. But this town had awakened his need for things. It had awakened the very idea of wanting and now because of that all the people that had regarded him as strong and capable had now seen his weakness. He had broken his own rules and now they would leave him. Sure they had been supportive before but that had been just so that he would accept his Shadow. Now they'd show how they really felt. All he knew was that he was happy that this had not occurred when the case was in progress.

Since they would leave him anyway there were no consequences to consider for what he would say next. "I want to stay here in Inaba. I want to continue going to continue going to Yasogami High with all of you and I want to continue living with Nanako and my uncle." There he had admitted to it all now all that was left was their reactions.

Yu waited for them to leave and when there was no movement whatsoever he finally turned and looked at them all. They all had identical looks of happiness. Was it because he wanted to stay?

"I'm fine with it," Dojima said. "But there is one condition. You have to call me Ryotaro or perhaps Ryo, 'Dojima-san' and 'Uncle' seem a bit too distant for the type of relationship we have and I am pretty sure that your old man would mind if you called me Dad. Although you can if you want to."

Yu smiled. He was incredibly happy as well as embarrassed. This was really happening he had asked and he was allowed to stay. Relief washed over him and he fell to his knees. Now that all of the excitement was over he felt really tired and he was fairly sure that the illness made it worse.

All of them rushed toward him as he fell but he was already out cold by the time that they reached him.

When he woke up he was in his room and it wasn't for the fact that the calendar was still in March he might have thought that what had occurred had been nothing more than an elaborate dream.

With a blush he recalled just how sappy the events of the very recent past were he pulled himself up and readied himself for the embarrassment that he knew he would feel when he saw everyone again. But then he smiled because he was allowed to stay here with everyone and he was allowed to be happy.

**A/n Thanks for reading. This was a long time in the making because I read a Yu faces his shadow fic that was pretty bad and wanted to do one myself. Hopefully I did it justice. Please leave a review no matter be it good or bad but please no hate type reviews they are very mean and I don't appreciate them at all.**


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